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“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Not everyone is lucky enough to know exactly what they want to do in life by the time they get to college, but Mike McEntire is one of those fortunate few. For Mike, the goal has always been to be a veterinarian, either at a zoo or an aquarium. Now, with applications out to vet schools in far off places like North Carolina State, Texas A&M and the University of Illinois, it’s a waiting game to see where his next steps will take him.

Originally from Sandy, UT, Mike graduated from Brighton High in 2006 and served a mission in Singapore and Malaysia before returning to his studies at BYU. Having long ago decided what direction he wants to go, the biology major has peppered his undergraduate years with internships and other experiences that have propelled him along that path. He spent a semester at a clinic called All About Pets, and one at the Mountain Horse Medical Center. He worked at Wasatch Exotic Pet Care in Salt Lake, and did a pre-veterinary preceptorship on campus. Then, in the summer of 2011, Mike was a veterinary services intern at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, where he got to work with seals and sea lions, penguins and sharks.

“I loved being there,” Mike said. “I got to help draw blood and give injections—it was awesome. I always thought I would like to work in a zoo or an aquarium but when I did, I was like wow, there’s nothing like this anywhere else.”

These days, Mike works taking care of the fish in the basement of the Widtsoe. It was his work there that inspired his thesis project, studying the effects of male dominance on female mate choice in poecilia gilii, a small but common live bearing fish found in the waters of Central America.

Mike even got to travel to Costa Rica to collect fish for the project.

“I was there for a week, and we just went through a couple of the provinces, collecting in streams as we went,” Mike explained. “It was pretty sweet.”

Back on campus, Mike serves on the Life Sciences Student Council, and volunteers with the campus Choose to Give campaign. He also works in a research lab, where he says he has come to love research.

“I really didn’t think I ever would,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot, and there is so much room to improve our knowledge about all these different species. Every day is something new.”

Now, as life is about to take him onto a new school in a new city, Mike will have something else new to take along with him: a wife. Mike met Virginia in a class last fall, and discovered they were in the same ward a few days later. Now the couple is preparing for their May wedding.

Fun facts: Mike speaks Mandarin. He is the oldest of five kids. He swam competitively as a teenager, and once even got to swim with Michael Phelps. Like so many honors students, he loves to read, and considers books “medicine of the soul”. One of his life goals is to read all the Barnes & Noble classics. This fall, he has been taking the C.S. Lewis Honors class (Check out http://afternoonsofreverie.blogspot.com/ to see some of his thoughts on what he’s been reading), which he considers one of his favorites, along with an environmental humanities class he took with Dr. Oscarson.

“Our lives are a series of defining moments, strung together by passing time. Surrender fully to the moment, because it is not the moment itself that defines us, but how we choose to live in it.”

—Jill Hanna

Carson Bennett was a high school senior when he had one of the most important hinge moments of his life—you know, the kind of moment where you can feel some kind of cosmic shift in your entire life’s path wrapped up in a seemingly inconsequential decision; the type of moment that comes into brilliant focus only when one looks into the rear-view mirror of life.

He didn’t score the game-winning touchdown or sail around the world in a semester at sea. He simply took a creative writing class, and that, as Frost might say, has made all the difference.

It was in that class that Carson discovered a love for poetry. There that he first felt a sense of duty with regards to writing. There that the passing thought of going to BYU became both a possibility and a reality as his teacher recommended he apply for the Lavern S. Clark creative writing scholarship for incoming freshman.

And, because of that, it was there that the wheels were set in motion for even more life changing experiences down the road.

As a freshman at BYU, Carson entered a poem he’d written into a contest on a bit of a whim and ended up winning the opportunity to attend the Western Regional Honors Conference. There, he presented his poem and spent the weekend in a four-star hotel, listening to dedicated honors students from several states presenting their own findings on a multitude of topics.

“That whole experience opened my eyes to what I could become,” Carson said, adding that it confirmed his decision to pursue the Honors program.

A few months later, Carson set off on an even bigger eye opening experience: a full-time mission.

“I’d like to think that I would have gone on a mission if I hadn’t ended up at BYU,” Carson said. “But my freshman year was a dream and because of that, I had no questions about going. I believe the Lord knew where to put me.”

From 2009 to 2011, the Lord put Carson in Brazil’s southernmost mission. Then, once he was back at BYU, the Lord put Carson in the path of an old friend who was just returning from the Cambridge Direct Enrollment program in the United Kingdom.

“As I learned more about the program, it was another one of those “do this” moments, that inner pull,” Carson said.

So last summer Carson traveled to England and spent the summer studying, reflecting, and challenging himself under the guidance of Cambridge Dons, at the same time rubbing shoulders with other driven students like himself.

“Just being around so many people hungry for education, and being able to talk about it with them in an intimate setting changed a whole lot of things,” Carson said. Staying up until all hours of the morning talking with and learning from his peers led Carson to co-found the Curiosity Club, a group of inquisitive Honors students that meets weekly to foster camaraderie and learning about the world together.

Carson will have plenty of answer seeking to keep him busy in the coming months—he’s just embarking on the thesis process, and intends to do something with witness literature and trauma theory.

In the meantime, he’s got his hands full as a junior balancing a double major in English and Portuguese along with an on-campus translation internship for the Church, putting the Lectures on Faith into Portuguese. He also serves as a coordinator for the Cambridge program and will teach the prep class in 2013.

An adherent to the belief that life isn’t a matter of what he has or what he does, but rather a measure of what he has become, Carson is happy living life in the moment—in the best possible way.

Fun facts: Carson was born in the Big Easy (New Orleans), but considers Holladay, UT his hometown. He is a pescetarian (a vegetarian who eats fish) and plays guitar, intramural volleyball and enjoys participating in triathlons. If you keep your eyes open while crossing campus, you might see him reading “The Odyssey” as he walks between classes. As if mastering two languages wasn’t enough, he’s currently learning Spanish and Hebrew (which just may come in handy since he’s considering joining the foreign service when he grows up).

Yup, this blog has been neglected for a while, and the time is [beyond] ripe for us to repent of our sinful ways and formally introduce you to your 2012-2013 Honors Student Advisory Council members.

But before we do that, we want you to know that we have had a blast working together so far this semester, and we are looking forward to involving each of you even more in the months to come. We hope you will come to Honors events and service projects, get involved on our committees, and maybe even consider writing for, or being featured on the blog (look for profiles of Freakin’ Awesome Honors students on the blog every Friday starting this week).

We are also super excited about the changes we’re implementing, like the inauguration of the Honors Representative Program, Great Works societies, and the activity board. We hope you’ll take the time to send us your feedback and suggestions for these projects or anything else relating to the Honors Program. It is our job to find ways to make a great thing better, and to be your connection to administration, but it is your ideas and input that truly generate change. Every one of you is a part of BYU’s Honors legacy!

Ta-da! Here we are… don’t we look friendly? (We are, and we want to meet YOU!)

Admittedly, we’re all a little bit the clichéd Honors student: overachievers with full plates and what some might consider a hearty appetite for punishment. But we, like so many of you, prefer to think of ourselves as possessing a healthy dose of enthusiasm for being challenged, and a genuine curiosity about the world around us. As it turns out, this is one of the few things that ALL of us share.

Though we are as racially and religiously homogenous as you might expect (this is BYU after all), we are about as different as people come. Between the twelve of us we represent a dozen different majors or emphases and just as many distinct minors. We hail from seven states and two countries, speak eight languages, and represent a vast spectrum of political, social, and personal convictions (not the least of which is the rather divisive issue of our respective devotion to BYU athletics).

More specifically, we are:

Trevor Anderson

President

Senior, Biophysics

Thesis: Comparisons and characterization of amantadine derivatives against the Influenza A Viruz M2TMD proton Channel, with Dr. David Busath

Michelle Gessel

Vice-President

Senior, Interdisciplinary Humanities

Thesis: From Lake Bonnevile to Rock Climbing, a History of Rock Canyon, with George Handley

Rachel Dabb

Publications

Senior, Communications: Advertising

Thesis: How nonprofit organizations tell their story

Brooke Ward

Online Publications

Senior, Communications: Public Relations

Thesis: Persuasion and the Silver screen: Mititgating ethical barriers for prosocial activism in entertainment television, with Dr. Robert Wakefield

The Honors Program is hosting a breakfast and service activity this Saturday. The activity will begin in the Honors Lounge in the basement of the Maeser building.

At 9am a pancake breakfast will be served and at 10am we will head over to SCERA park in Orem to clean up the park.

The Honors Program will provide transportation to SCERA park from the Maeser building at 9:45, but you are welcome to meet us there at 600 South State Street in Orem.

Orem city parks will provide all the tools, gloves, etc. that we will need. We recommend you bring a water bottle and wear weather appropriate clothing. Currently the forecast predicts the weather will be sunny and the high will be in the mid-50s .

The Honors Program had a great service experience at Community Action. The students who attended repackaged toilet paper for distribution.

The Honors Program also donated the canned food students brought during the opening social. Altogether, the donations weighed 188 pounds! Thanks to everyone who donated food at the opening social and who came to the service activity.

by Sean Fisher
The BYU Honors Program is having a service activity at Community Action on Thursday, February 16th. Meet at the Maeser building at 6:15pm to commute to the Food Bank (or meet at Community
Action at 6:30pm). We will have a brief tour before the service project. Please
bring a canned food item to donate. Also, remember to wear closed toed shoes and long pants to
prevent accidental injury.
For more information about Community Action, you can contact them at 801-373-8200 or visit their website: http://communityactionprovo.org/.
This is a fantastic way to start a longer-lasting relationship with a respected, local service
organization to help our community. This may also help you in your efforts to complete the
Honors Service Requirement. There are many opportunities for students to get involved in
helping Community Action accomplish its mission. Simple tasks may include: sorting cans,
filling food boxes, stocking pantry shelves, etc.
The Community Action promise on their website reads, “Community Action changes people’s lives, embodies the
spirit of hope, improves communities, and makes America a better place to live. We care about
the entire community, and we are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other.”
Community Action’s goals to help individuals establish self-sufficiency, one step at a time,
coincide with the Church’s doctrinal views concerning self-reliance and provident living.

On Thursday, December 1, 2011, the BYU Honors Program will be hosting a screening of the film “Life is Beautiful.” The screening will begin at 7:00pm and will be held in room 321 of the Maeser building. Please come and see this incredible and touching film!

(Note: Although the original film was rated R, we will be watching a new release of the film that has been re-rated as PG-13. See you at the screening!)

For the past six weeks, Honors students have celebrated China’s vibrant culture by attending movies, activities, and lectures focusing on both modern and ancient China. On October 28, students participated in a closing social marking the end of the Great Works Chinese emphasis. The Chinese closing social was an activity to remember, filled with crafts, contests, and a delicious Chinese feast.

The night started off with a lesson in the art of kite making. Using dowels, construction paper, glue, and string, students were able to construct simplified replicas of ancient Chinese kites. During this activity, facts about the inventions of ancient China were read. For example, did you know that the Chinese were the inventors of the fork?

Attendees also had the opportunity to make crossbows out of pencils, pens, rubber bands, and bamboo skewers. Students were then let loose to try their hand at using their newly made “weapons” while enjoying a contest to see who had built the farthest shooting crossbow.

Towards the end of the social, the upcoming country of focus was announced. The next six weeks of Great Works activities will be centered on the customs, culture, and unique contributions of Italy! Future activities will include showings of “La Strada” and “Life is Beautiful”, a lecture about Italian architecture, creating buildings out of sugar cubes, and an Italian Christmas party!

As an Honors student, it’s not uncommon to be asked, “Why would you want to do Honors? Isn’t it just more work?”

While some may think that students are the ones stuck with all the work, Honors professors are also expected to engage in their Honors classes differently than other classes. Professors who teach courses in the Honors Program are in a unique place at BYU. Often, these professors have designed their own unique courses from the General Education requirement frameworks. This originality allows for the wider variety of Honors courses being offered and it usually means the teachers are more invested in the class because they designed it.

Professor Julie Ransom, an Honors professor, said that teaching a class she designed makes a huge difference.

This semester Professor Ransom is teaching Turning Points, a class she designed. “I kept seeing themes recurring in different works and wanted to focus on those themes,” she said.

She took the themes from works on the Honors Great Works list that covered different time periods and genres and used them to build the class.

In the class students read many different literary works, from Descartes, to Tolstoy, to C.S. Lewis and learn about art and music. All of these works include the idea of “Turning Points”–the revolutions and changes that happen in society.

Taking classes with this kind of focus is one of the many benefits of honors classes. So, next time someone asks, “isn’t that just more work?” remember how much the professors care about the subject they’re teaching and the kinds of people who take Honors classes. They can make all the difference.

On Thursday, October 20, 2011, the Honors Program hosted yet another exciting Great Works event. The night started off with a guest visit from Spencer Hawkes, the president of the BYU Tai Chi club. Hawkes explained that there are two different forms of Tai Chi, the long form and the short form.

While the long form of Tai Chi has been around for thousands of years, the short form was created more recently to make the art less time consuming and less physically demanding. The long form often takes more than forty-five minutes and can take many years to master, making it unpractical for many people.

According to Hawkes, learning Tai Chi has given him a greater sense of awareness. “It helps you to relax muscles that you did not even know that you had,” said Hawkes. He also explained that the holistic nature of Tai Chi added to the benefits he had experienced from learning it. After watching Hawkes demonstrate a segment of the short form of Tai Chi, students were able to try out a few moves on their own. They then had the opportunity to watch the action-packed film, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” During which they were able to see the principles of Tai Chi in action while fulfilling a Great Works experience.

Even if you were unable to attend this activity, make sure to leave a space in your calendar this Friday, October 28th, for the closing social of the Chinese segment of this year’s international theme. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about China while fulfilling a science Great Works experience. The night will be filled with many activities including building kites, learning how ancient compasses were made, listening to a guest lecture, getting up close and personal with an ancient Chinese printing press, using fireworks, having a cross-bow war, and of course, eating delicious Chinese food.

College is expensive…between tuition, books, rent, Jamba Juice breaks and cinnamon bears from the Bookstore, life can really start to add up. So how are you going to fund the undergraduate research ventures that will make you stand out to graduate schools or future employers? Well, have you heard about ORCA? (And no, we don’t mean the whale) BYU’s Office of Research and Creative Activities is currently accepting proposals for $1500 grants towards mentor-guided research projects for 2011-2012!

Past ORCA winners have gone on to assist BYU professors with research efforts here on campus, while others have used the money to travel to destinations all over the world (including Antarctica!) for their projects.

So how do you find a mentor? Start by talking with professors in your department and see if they have any projects they need research assistants for, even if it’s just a small role. Working alongside BYU faculty outside of the classroom setting will help you develop stronger relationships with professors and you’ll be gaining valuable experience before your career even begins.

Interested students can head over to orca.byu.edu for more information on the application process. But be sure to hurry: the deadline for this year is October 28 at midnight. Don’t let this opportunity to get started on your undergraduate research pass you by- all qualified students are encouraged to apply, regardless of age. Put yourself out there and apply for an ORCA today!